Solar so good: The new Roberts Radio

First there was the wind-up-radio - now Roberts is looking to the sun...

Portable radios are always at the forefront of the drive towards green, sustainable power sources – mainly because you’d need a team of racehorses on treadmills to generate sufficient eco-power for a super-size plasma screen or other hungrier gizmos.

Hot on the heels of the wind-up Freeplay radio comes Roberts’s solar DAB radio – a world first.

The portable has a solar panel stretching across the top of the unit, which supplies a built-in rechargeable battery.

Sensibly, Yorkshire-based Roberts has ensured you needn’t rely entirely on good weather to power the device – you can top up the 27-hour battery from the mains, too.

Charging it via the sun will take about 12 to 16 hours in very strong sunlight – and it’ll charge even more slowly under cloud cover.

But in ideal summer conditions you should never need to resort to electricity for all-day listening – in theory at least. Even if cloudy skies mean that you have to charge the SolarDAB from the mains, its eco credentials are solid – as it runs off rechargeable batteries, so won’t add to the 300 million batteries that Britons throw away every year.

Otherwise it’s a standard, solid Roberts radio. The sound is defiantly mono, and the bass and volume are unlikely to start impromptu raves in the park, but it’s perfectly fine for picnics or garden listening.

There are ten preset stations, a line- in socket for the iPod and other MP3 players, plus an LCD display that tells you the battery-charge level and the strength of the sunlight as you sit in the park praying for that cloud to get out of the way…

The SolarDAB costs £79.90 and is available nationwide.robertsradio.co.uk